Secularism

The western concept of secularism has been for some time in deep and perhaps permanent crisis. Elaborated in the context of secularisation of society, the concept is simply unable to deal with the pervasiveness of religious belief on the one hand, and new cultural histories and new social geographies on the other. If secularism, Chandhoke suggests, has to endure as a constitutive principle of democracy, the concept has to come to terms with the ubiquity of religious beliefs, and with religion in the public sphere. Gandhian philosophy may well help us to mitigate the seriousness of the crisis. Central to Gandhian philosophy of secularism as a companion concept of toleration, and secularism as ‘equality of all religions’, is the notion of an epistemological deficit. Persons have the moral capacity to know the truth, but not the entire truth. Therefore no group can claim superiority over another on the ground that its truth is the ultimate truth, and that other truths are false or travesties of the real thing. This realisation leads slowly but surely towards respect for plurality of beliefs and toleration. This constitutes the core of political secularism in India. The antecedent concept of political secularism is thus equality.

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2 thoughts on “Transnationalism”

As a recent recipient of the graduate school certificate in African studies at ASU, my final drew from or focused in part on the settler narrative movement of the antebellum era. Despite the discovery of over 100 burials from this era that came to light recently, it was all treated in a quite troubing manner. Settler Colonial mentality was pervasive. It is clear, the slave labor narrative must be preserved at all cost. Local professional organizations and offices were disrespected and ignored as if the descended community did not exist. People wear the continuance of mixed relationships from this history and it is only now that they are finding their voice and their heritage in some cases. Global social theory is spot on.

I’m interested in colonialism,settler colonialism and decolonisation as it speaks to the original ownership of the land/country[?].
I was interested to read ‘the tendency among some scholars of settler colonialism to treat settlement as inevitable, simultaneously relieving settler societies and states of the burden of reconciling with indigenous peoples, and placing the burden of accommodating settler sovereignty onto those same indigenous peoples'[above]
I have been tentatively searching for references to the morality/legality of colonialisation,which could possibly have huge ramifications,and they are scarce.

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